Hello all!!
I got back last night from our last trip with our program. It was a little sad- but I am looking forward to spending the last month and half I have left here in Brighton!
We woke up early on Saturday morning to catch the bus at 8am. We got to Stratford-upon-Avon around 11:30am, and checked into our hotel. It was the cutest bed and breakfast I have ever seen!! We just had time to set our stuff in our rooms and then we walked to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. We had a little bit of time to walk around the city before Macbeth started at 1:15pm. We just went into a few shops before we headed back to the theatre for our show. Macbeth was AMAZING! The acting was so good and it was an awesome show! The theatre was like the Globe- the seats were around in a circle and went almost straight up.
After the show, we decided to walk around the city more. We went into a bunch of little shops along the street. We were looking for a place to eat dinner and we finally found this place along the river. We sat outside because it was so nice outside and had dinner the 8 of us. It was all people from my program- Lindsay, Chelsea, Ara, Madison, Amanda, Mark, and Matt. It was a lot of fun and so nice to sit outside and eat! Chelsea and I split a pitcher of Pimm's, which just made it perfect!
All weekend there were different events to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday, so we decided to go to The Law of Love, which was two hours of drama, music, and poetry with performers from the Shakespeare Institute. It was an interesting 2 hours, but the acting was pretty bad. There were more American actors than we anticipated and they were bad. I was a little embarrassed...
We were all super tired from not getting much sleep the night before so we decided to just go back to the hotel and go to bed. When we got our hotel room (Chelsea, Lindsay, and I were all in a room together), we turned our TV on and watched Friends! We love how much Friends is on over here!!
On Sunday, we got up and had a full English breakfast in the morning, which was delicious! An egg, toast, bacon, sausage, beans, mushrooms, a tomato, and tea of course. Then we left for a tour around the city given by Wendy Bowie- who was awesome! She showed us around the city and taught us so many new things! See the following:
Goodnight Sleep Tight: They used to tie ropes to the frames of beds to create a grid to put the mattress on top of. When the ropes were lose, the mattress was less comfortable. When they were tightened, you would get a better nights sleep.
Eavesdropping: The were holes in the eaves in the roof because of the thatched roofing so you could hear from one room to the other.
Canopy: The ceilings used to be made out of straw-a thatched roof- and birds would peck through them and sometimes drop some unwanted things into people's bedrooms. People put canopies over their beds so that nothing fell onto their faces while they slept.
Barber pole: Barbers used to be the people who performed surgery- the Doctors were just GPs and didn't do surgery. The barber poles are red and white because of the blood and bandages.
Frog in your throat: They used to tie a frog's legs together and put it down someone's throat when they had the whopping cough to get rid of their sore throat.
We learned so much from her and she was so nice! After our tour, we had some free time to get lunch and walk around a little. We went to a Shakespeare store and went into a few souvenir stores, then it was time to head back to the bus.
We got on the bus and went to Warwick Castle. We had almost 3 hours to roam around the castle and see some entertainment. Lindsay, Chelsea, Ara, and I all decided before we went into the castle (while we were at the gift shop) to buy swords to fight each other all day. We also all got Princess crowns. I felt like a little kid again and it was so much fun! We were Princess Warriors for the day and I know you are all jealous! After spending the afternoon in the gorgeous weather walking around the castle, we headed back home around 4pm. It was a really fun last trip!
We were originally supposed to go to Oxford Saturday morning, but since it was Shakespeare's birthday weekend, our tickets for Macbeth had to be during the day. The night tickets were already booked for a special showing and we weren't able to get those tickets. With all the traffic and such, Oxford had to be cut out of the schedule. We were a little bummed about this, but we might take a day trip one weekend to visit the University. If not, it gives me more reason to come back!
Well I have a lot of school work to do, and really should get working on it. I have 6 papers due within the next 3 weeks- basically I hate school here! I only have 3 weeks left of school and 6 weeks left until I come home! I can't believe it is almost time to leave. It feels really bittersweet!! Although I miss everyone at home so much and want to go home, I love it here and don't want to leave!
I don't have any more trips left to update you all on, but I will keep you updating with things I do in Brighton! There wont be much the next 2 weeks with all the papers I will be working on- so pray that I get them done fast!
I hope you all are getting some better weather over there and good luck to everyone who has finals this week and next!! I found out today that Osama Bin Laden is dead so thank goodness for that! I am proud to be an American, even if I am not with you all!!
xxx
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